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This is the third post in a series about gardening. Today I’m going to give you a few ways to avoid weeds. Because they suck. No one likes weeds.

Although, according to A A Milne and his beloved character Eeyore, “Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” Way to be positive Eeyore.

So the best way that we have avoided weeds is by putting down landscape, or weed block fabric. It’s about $5 a roll and is probably not awesome for the environment…but I work full time and have lots of other commitments to family and friends that are more important than weeds. So weed block fabric works for me. It will run you about $20 for the whole garden.

Another option I haven’t used but I have heard about:

Cardboard and newspaper. Lay down your paper flat (if you are using newspaper, lay down a bunch of layers.) Cut holes in it and plant your seedlings. Cover the remaining bare newspaper/cardboard with grass clippings or leaves. Eventually the paper will disintegrate and decompose.

Also, you can get fancy and plant low crops around ones that are taller- plant lettuce seedlings around your pepper plants, for example. The pepper plants take awhile to produce so you can harvest lots of lettuce before the peppers take off and need the space.

Overall, you will have weeds in your garden. I still have to go through and weed every week or so. But if you use preventative measures, you shouldn’t find it to be a huge problem. Just think of it as garden cardio!

When I started gardening, I was so ignorant that it wasn’t even funny. I literally did not know how or why you would repot a house plant, didn’t even know what potting soil was. The many, many websites out there are really geared more toward experienced gardeners. Lots of amazing tutorials, but simple questions were left unanswered. So I thought it would be fun to do a Gardening Basics series for beginners. I will post on this topic periodically through the spring and summer as we start our garden.

Topics I will cover include:

Finding your garden space
What to grow & a shopping list for your beginner garden
Weeding and ways around it
Watering- how often?
How to know when things are ripe (a big issue for me at first)
Basic food preservation techniques
Compost and fertilizer- why and how?

Are there any other beginner gardeners out there? Any other topics I can help with? I am hoping this can be a place where us newbies/reformed black thumbs can feel comfortable asking questions and learning together!